Religious Tolerance

The relevance: The reason this topic is so relevant these days is because the world is becoming increasingly diverse, and in our daily lives we are confronted more and more with people who are different than us. Of course when those differences are of a racial, or economic nature the Christian response of love and acceptance regardless is easily acknowledged. However when it comes to matters of religious diversity the issue gets a little more sticky for the matter of where to draw the line between accepting the person of different faith and his beliefs is crucial.

Variety of stances: Depending on where one stands in the acceptance of the insights of other faiths is determinative of the type of tolerance that will be appropriate will for riate for you. For instance if one is a religious Pluralist one will not have a problem accepting the persons and beliefs of those adherent of another faith seeing each religion as an equally valid path to God. An inclusivist too who believes that while their religion is correct, every religion can provide truth to the extent that it corresponds to the truth of one's own/correct religion. Perhaps this individual would be able to show tolerance towards those of other religions to the extent that the person of another faith holds view that support one's own. The Exclusivist position which hold that one's own religion is correct and all others are wrong may have a little more difficulty in showing tolerance towards those of other faiths.

Scriptural support: Both the Pluralist, the Inclusivist, and the Exclusivist have seen their position as having scriptural support:

Vague passages such as John 10:16, which says: "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." (RSV), could be seen to support the pluralist as meaning that God will ultimately save all people no matter what fold/ or religion that they happen to be a part of.

Matthew 22:39 to "Love thy neighbor as thyself..." and the Hindu teaching "One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one's own self. This, in brief is the rule of dharma." (Mahabharata XIII: 113,8) can be used by the inclusivist to say that truth can be found in other religions as well as one's own faith.

John 14:6 where Jesus says "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." (NRSV)

2 Corinthians 6 that talks about light having nothing in common with darkness and the calling of God to be separate, has been for some Christians to close themselves off from relating to people of other religions.

Matthew 7:13-14 which refers to gate that leads to life being narrow can leave Christians with the idea that they are correct and all others are wrong.

My position: I think that I am somewhere between an Exclusivist and an Inclusivist. I think that ultimately Christianity is the only was of salvation, but I do think that other religions say things that are true and coincide with the teaching of Christianity.

Appropriate tolerance: I think that the tolerance appropriate to this viewpoint requires that while we be fair and in a sense put up with the view of other faiths as per the second definition of tolerance (the act of putting up with something or somebody irritating or otherwise unpleasant). However the first view of tolerance (the acceptance of the differing views of other people, for example in religions or political matters and fairness toward the people who hold these different views) seems to be inappropriate for Christians, of course we should be fair but are we really required to accept other religious views? It is weird how society has seemed to redefine tolerance in terms that require acceptance of the views not just acceptance of the person and fairness towards them.

Conclusions Because our world can not seem to separate rejection of a person's view from rejection of a person Christians have an extra hard job ahead of them to make an extra effort to display love and kindness toward our Muslim/Buddhist/ Jewish neighbors.